


Hearts at War

by dentedsky



Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, M/M, Politics, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:56:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27798097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dentedsky/pseuds/dentedsky
Summary: Princes Zack of Banora and Cloud of Avalanche are betrothed.Zack is the last to know.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Comments: 16
Kudos: 104
Collections: ff7omegaverseweek





	Hearts at War

**Author's Note:**

> this was meant to be the ff7omegaverseweek - prompt historical - a few months ago but oooh fail, it's late

Prince Zack nodded off to King Sephiroth monotonously droning on about town grain stores, then woke up again just as the king started mentioning opening the gates to peasants as stipulated in the newest draft of the treaty with the Kingdom of Avalanche.

“-easpants?” Zack croaked, lifting his head. His parchment lifted with it, stuck to his cheek from all the drool. He flicked it off impatiently as he demanded of his king, “We are finally accepting Midgarian refugees?”

“ _That’s_ the part of the treaty that concerns you the most?” Prince Genesis drawled from across the council table.

Zack didn’t know why Genesis was asking him this, but he was the brother he tended to listen to the least, so he ignored him and looked at Sephiroth instead, eyebrows raised as he waited for his eldest brother and king to answer his question.

Sephiroth looked back at him with a kind of tired impatience, like he would never get used to his youngest brother doing things like falling asleep during high council meetings and then interrupting when he’s speaking. Angeal was looking at Zack with exasperation.

Zack knew he was the most rambunctious brother of the Banora royal family, but he couldn’t help it. Training with swords and bows and arrows with his knights was fun; high council meetings that involved Sephiroth and Angeal talking non-stop about the more mundane aspects of running a country were _agony_. So often he would have little power-naps here and there and dream of swords clashing against shields and the silver links that made up his chainmail. Comfort things.

But refugees… this was one aspect of politics he _did_ care about.

Zack thumped the table with his fist and his ink well rattled. “You’ve finally relented? We are going to accept Midgarian refugees?”

“Only if they’re filtered through Fort Condor first,” Sephiroth told him. “We will accept twenty thousand serfs, of which we will put to work on the fields between here and Gongaga. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that we lack young alphas in these occupied lands after Shinra’s rule, and so human labour will be replenished this way. Any objections?”

“Absolutely not,” said Zack, “we should take more.”

“Twenty thousand is just the start,” Sephiroth reassured, “and is the minimum stipulated by Regent Barret in this treaty.” He gestured to the paperwork. “We would struggle to do too many at once.”

“Understood,” Zack said, passion for the people lighting a fire in his chest. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

Even after the meeting was adjourned and Genesis and Zack were leaving the council chambers after King Sephiroth and Crown Prince Angeal, Genesis was still eyeing Zack with amusement.

Zack titled his head at him. “What?”

“You slept through almost that whole treaty reading, didn’t you?” Genesis drawled.

“No! Well, probably.”

Genesis cackled all the way down the corridor, heading to the library where he would find a spot in a corner and curl himself around a book.

*

Two days later, Zack was taking a break from his drills, deciding to stand back and watch his men work through theirs for a few minutes.

Mind wandering, he thought about how decades ago, the Shinra royal family used to own this land. From the border of Junon all the way to Rocket, the fertile land with its little towns had been owned by an empire that didn’t care about it, who conscripted its young alphas into a war that wiped almost all of them out. Some of the royal families in the various kingdoms had not survived. The four Banora princes had themselves been scattered, only for the eldest to re-establish himself as king again, and with an army made up of Shinran defectors, had managed to occupy Gongaga, Corel, Rocket, and Nibelheim. They took the Nibelheim castle, and made it their base. 

Similarly, the Gordon royal family had funded a resistance against Shinran rule and had taken Fort Condor and Junon, but at a terrible price: King Dyne Gordon had died, leaving his very young daughter heir to the throne in Fort Condor. Since Princess Marlene was not of age, the leader of Avalanche and Dyne’s best friend had placed himself and his wife Tifa as Regents of the throne until Marlene was ready to rise to it. They renamed their new country Avalanche, just as Sephiroth had named _their_ new country Banora, after their true last names and the kingdom Shinra had long destroyed.

Shinra had lost a lot of ground in the war, and they were still mistreating their civilians, which meant that Midgarians were fleeing Shinran oppression and flocking into Avalanche. Of what Zack could guess - though his knowledge of Avalanche was limited - was that Avalanche would not be able to cope with so many refugees, and that starvation and poverty would start to set in. He knew he had to convince Sephiroth to accept a treaty of peace between their two nations, so that they would carry some of Avalanche’s burden. But Sephiroth was stubborn: he had not wanted to risk losing the ground they had gained by accepting foreigners in.

Until two days ago. _Finally. Finally!_

Angeal stepped up beside him and crossed his arms. Zack glanced at him in acknowledgement, but otherwise continued to silently watch his knights. Kunsel, Roche, Luxiere, Sebastian and Essai were doing particularly well with their training, and Zack’s chest swelled with pride.

Angeal spoke eventually: “Have you read the treaty yet?”

Zack snorted. “Do you even know me?”

Angeal was unamused. “Regent Barret has a stipulation in there about a distant cousin of the late King Dyne.”

“Oh?” Zack chuckled. “Is it ‘please assassinate so that I may keep my throne’?”

“Almost, but not quite,” said Angeal, with some guile. “The cousin is to be married to one of us.”

Zack blinked and glanced at him. “Assassination would have been kinder. So are wedding bells in Sephiroth’s future?”

“Of course not,” said Angeal, deadpan. “Sephiroth has written you in as the one to – “

“Do you fucking _jest?_ ” Zack burst out. He turned to Angeal fully and glared into his face. But Angeal didn’t do practical jokes, Zack knew that. “This doesn’t make _any sense_ Angeal! Who – how – _why?_ ”

Angeal gave him a piercing look. “You know why.”

“I – “ Zack cut himself off in exasperation. He shook his head. “I actually have no idea. I am _third in line to the throne_. Is he trying to – “ Zack gesticulated, unable to find the right words – “I don’t know, marry me off?”

“The cousin is a male omega,” Angeal explained. Zack blinked at that; they were rare. “And he grew up in Nibelheim, so there is a chance that Regent Barret is marrying _him_ off.”

Zack tapped his chin in thought. “So this cousin is either being sent over to us by the regent as a spy for him, _or_ to get rid of him, so that he can keep hold of the throne.”

“It could be both,” Angeal speculated. “Although, I have heard Regents Barret and Tifa are very fond of Princess Marlene and consider her to be their daughter. Perhaps they do not want this…” He stopped to remember – “Prince Cloud to vie for her throne.”

“Love aside, it could cause civil war,” Zack added.

“Precisely.”

“So why me?” said Zack. His elation from earlier was gone. “Sephiroth is the one who should be marrying royal omegas. Or if not him, you. Or Genesis. I mean, out of all the options – “

Angeal was watching him. “Perhaps he does wish for you to leave.”

There was a cold, tight feeling in Zack’s stomach. He and Sephiroth weren’t best of friends or anything, but he had thought that he had been getting along with him pretty well. To hear that his eldest brother wanted him to… what? Disappear? Go to Avalanche?

When Angeal spoke, his voice was low, and his gaze wandered over the training field. “You have many loyal knights, Zack, trained alphas and betas who would die for you, who would follow you anywhere.”

“So do you,” said Zack in confusion. “We all have our own retinue. In fact mine are the least experienced.”

“It’s not the same. Sephiroth’s knights may have more experience, but they follow him for fame or because they fear him. You on the other hand, have befriended your knights, and have hand-picked the ones with individual talents, rather than overall merits. The other knights envy yours, Zack. But it’s not just that; you don’t just have the love of the entire army, you have the love of the _people_ , something that King Sephiroth has yet to gain, and that is a considerable threat.”

Zack stared at him.

He could… understand it now, what it must look like to Sephiroth. Zack was the youngest prince, never to hope to gain the throne, so he had allowed himself to take advantage of certain privileges: to be picky with his knights, befriend them. They would sometimes dress as peasants, go into the lower city, gamble and drink and dance. And at the end of those nights, perhaps the townspeople would whisper: _King Sephiroth is a scary man, all military and fear. But that Prince Zack – well, he’s quite a good chap, isn’t he? He’s one of us. How grand would it be if he were king instead?_

Zack had never thought his meandering about would become a threat - would become something the king could _fear_.

“And…” Angeal continued, hesitating. “I do not believe that you would make a claim to the throne – but if you did – if you fought the king – “

Zack shook his head. “I wouldn’t - !” he said vehemently.

“ – I think the king would know whose side I would choose.”

Zack’s breath caught. Did Angeal just confess, that if Zack went for the throne, that Angeal would back him being king? The _youngest_ brother? Zack repeated weakly, “I’m third in line.”

Angeal squared his shoulders. “We did not have this conversation.”

A gust blew, seeming to carry their treasonous conversation away.

Zack hoped that this Prince Cloud was very, very ugly, with a bowed back and crusted pustules all over his face. He hoped he was so hideous that to force Zack into such a marriage would be such an insult that Sephiroth would cancel the wedding, angry with Regent Barret that he would try to swindle him.

*

Unfortunately for Zack, Prince Cloud was not ugly.

Very much the opposite, in fact.

*

Cook had been making scones with blueberries picked from bushes just beyond the royal gardens. The scones were hot and fragrant and moist inside, made with butter and milk and _love_. Or possibly not love, but Zack often wondered if there was a secret ingredient, because how could a baked good taste so delicious and be so addictive? Zack finished his first one then reached for another, hungry eyes sweeping over the whole tray of them –

Cook slapped his hand away with a wooden spoon, then blushed prettily at Zack’s wounded puppy eyes. She had her hair up in a bun, a couple of strands coming out of it from her bustling about the basement kitchen, checking ovens, stirring pots and barking orders at her bustling staff.

“You can’t steal all our scones, sire,” she scolded; “they’re for the afternoon tea with your husband-to-be.”

Zack tried to grab a scone, just one more time, unable to resist. His wrist got slapped again. He whined, then told her, “I won’t be attending; ‘can’t see the groom the day before the wedding’, and all that.”

Her eyes softened. She was a beautiful omega, someone that Zack wouldn’t mind tumbling, even though she was about two decades his senior. “I’m glad it’s you, sire,” she told him.

Zack blinked at her. “Pardon?” he said, but she had already turned away to pull a tray out of the oven.

There was a window high above the kitchen benches, that let in daylight. One of Cook’s assistants, Louise, was kneeling on the bench and looking out into the courtyard. She was keeping an eye out for Prince Cloud and Regent Tifa’s arrival. It was the other reason he was down here: he wanted to spy on his new husband-to-be; if he couldn’t meet him until their wedding tomorrow, then he would satisfy himself with a glimpse of him.

He was just sneaking another scone in his mouth when Louise motioned at him. “My lord! Cook! I think they’ve arrived…”

Zack and Cook scrambled onto the bench and pressed together so they could both see out the oil-stained window.

Louise was right: the gate had opened and a royal retinue trotted their horses into the courtyard. King Sephiroth and Princes Genesis and Angeal strode down the steps to meet them.

Zack eyed the Avalanche retinue with quiet curiosity as they stopped their horses before the steps and dismounted. Avalanchians were a people hardened from war, saddened by hardships and wary of strangers. They wore only the muted colours of dark leather and burnished steel, their attire suited for travelling and fighting and not for show, layered with thin breast plates, leather pockets and black lacings, their eyes kohl-lined.

Zack could easily guess that the blonde man at the head was Prince Cloud, while beside him the brunette was Regent Tifa. They had arrived with only three knights to protect and serve them, who wore the only bright colours of red sashes around their foreheads which were rumoured to not only be a symbol for Avalanche, but rare protection charms.

Regent Tifa bowed to King Sephiroth, but Prince Cloud chose instead to look around the courtyard, as if he were assessing enemy territory. His gaze was shrewd, mouth turned down in a frown.

Zack’s jaw relaxed in awe. Cloud was… beautiful.

“They’ve grown up,” Cook whispered from beside Zack.

Zack tore his eyes away from the scene outside to glance at her. “You know them?”

“Cloud and Tifa grew up in Nibelheim,” she told him quietly, her eyes never moving from the window.

“Oh,” he said. Regent Tifa and Sephiroth were speaking, and then they were moving away.

Cook sucked in a breath and pulled herself away from the window. She jumped off the bench and clapped her hands. “Alright!” she said to her staff, who paused in their chores to pay her attention. “Afternoon tea will be served shortly – “

Zack moved away so the kitchen staff could work, but he didn’t leave. He observed her, and saw the tears in her eyes. Saw her wipe them away with the back of her hand.

When the staff were transferring the food onto trays for the footmen, Zack went over to her and touched her arm, then smirked at her when she startled, as if she'd forgotten he was in the room.

“I have an idea,” Zack told her lowly.

*

“What am I doing here, lord?” Cook grumbled as she followed Zack through a dark, spider-web infested secret passage.

Zack and Kunsel had explored the old castle when Sephiroth and the Banora army had taken it and its surrounding lands. They’d found it had many hidden tunnels in the walls, and a whole set of rooms below the ground floor. There were perhaps more to this old Shinra Castle that they had yet to find, but for the moment, the secret passageway Zack and Cook were now using lead to a tapestry covered alcove to the corridor near the room Sephiroth and the Avalanche retinue would be having morning tea.

Zack and Cook bowed out of the passageway and stepped behind the tapestry just as Sephiroth, Tifa, Cloud and the three knights walked past. He heard Cook suck in a breath as she peeked around the woven cloth.

Cloud and the female guard were at the rear of the group. “Call to him,” Zack told Cook, nudging her lightly.

“The others might hear – “ she whispered.

“Then I’ll cover you!” he whispered urgently back, conscious their moment was about to be lost.

Cook cleared her throat and sang, “You are kind, you are strong, you are clever.”

Cloud stopped, and tilted his head. Only the female knight of the group noticed, and stopped with him, while the others continued, turning into the meeting room.

Cook sung again, “You are kind, you are strong…”

Cloud looked over his shoulder, and Cook stepped out from behind the tapestry. He stared at her.

“Mother…?” he gasped disbelievingly. His knight was looking between them.

Then Cloud strode over to Cook, pulled her into his arms and held her tight, face buried in her neck. Cook clung back fiercely, and for a moment they held each other close, swaying a little, like Cook was trying to rock her baby in her arms, only now her baby was grown.

The knight standing to the side looked away, as if giving them a moment, but Zack only leaned forward further in curiosity.

He must’ve made a noise when his shoulder hit the edge of the tapestry, because Cloud looked up then, and caught Zack’s eye.

Cloud’s mouth was still turned down at the edges, but his expression seemed… grateful. Zack sucked breath into his lungs.

Cloud and Cook – his _mother_ \- pulled away from each other reluctantly. “I’d better go,” Cloud told her, and his voice was deep, and thick, and heartfelt… and _nice_.

Cook nodded, and turned away and went back the way she came, leaving Cloud to stand in the corridor, staring after her.

In the passageway, as they headed back to the kitchens, Zack ventured with, “I’m… sorry, Cook. I didn’t know he was your son.”

She touched his arm lightly. “Call me Claudia, please. And thank you for that. I’ve wanted to see him for so long.”

“It’s fine, I wanted to help,” he tried to explain. “And ah, you can call me Zack.”

“I will call you no such thing, lord,” she said in admonishment.

*

The Priestess lifted her arms and intoned, “You may claim the omega.”

Zack and Cloud’s marriage ceremony had only started with a slight hitch when Cloud had been late, breathing fast like he’d chosen to run around the castle before walking down the aisle. He looked stunning in traditional white robes fastened with an intricate array of sashes and trimmed with gold embroidery.

Standing on the dais, Zack looked down into Cloud’s face, tilted upwards as if expecting a kiss. There was a slight flush to Cloud’s cheeks, as if he were nervous.

Zack didn’t have to kiss Cloud - he was well within his rights to just give the claiming bite on his neck – but he _wanted_ to. God, did he want to, and he wanted to make the kiss _good_ , to make it mean something, to make Cloud want to come back for more.

So he leaned down, parted his lips, and slid them against Cloud’s.

Cloud’s mouth was warm and pliant and yielded to the movement of Zack’s insistence. Zack slipped his tongue in, just once, then moved his mouth down Cloud’s jawline and to his neck. He summoned alpha thoughts of _mine_ , opened his mouth wide, and bit into Cloud’s neck. Cloud gasped and clutched Zack’s shoulders.

When Zack pulled away, the priestess said, “You may now take the omega under your protection.”

Zack pulled his fur cloak from his shoulders and covered Cloud with it with a flourish, clipping its clasp at his pale throat. Cloud was flush, mouth red and soft, and Zack smiled at him softly before putting an arm around his shoulders and leading him down the steps from the dais.

*

Zack eyed the cherry tart amongst the charms, jewellery, and other exotic items that made up the wedding gifts on the gift table. The reception hall was full of guests in various stages of rowdy and drunk, enjoying the jugglers and the singers and the knife throwers, who were all part of the entertainment.

Cloud sat next to him, an unimpressed air about him, but not in a haughty way – rather, he seemed to be someone who was not easily swayed into amusement… or any other positive emotion, really. Zack saw this as a challenge: one day, he would make his husband smile.

Zack followed Cloud’s gaze and realised he was watching his knights laugh and joke with Zack’s own, tankards banging on the wooden table and food flopping off plates with the force of it.

“I… want to thank you,” Cloud began, voice low.

Zack glanced at him, acting casual, but surprised by the Cloud’s initiation of conversation. “Thank me?”

“For sneaking my mum to me.” Cloud’s eyes flicked to Zack for a second.

“I didn’t know she was your mother at the time,” Zack confessed.

Cloud’s brow creased in confusion. “Then why did you do it?”

Zack bit the inside of his mouth, considering his words. “She’s… my friend. She looked so sad when she saw you, it broke my heart. I had to help her.”

Cloud blinked rapidly, but he still wouldn’t turn his head.

“It’s strange though,” Zack continued, “to have royalty working in the kitchens.”

“She’s not royalty,” Cloud corrected; “my father, her mate, was. She’s of aristocratic blood, but, after my father died in the war and Shinra scattered the royal families, there was no longer any room for the higher classes outside of Midgar. She had to go to work, or starve. Well, you know how it is.”

“Yeah,” said Zack. He knew how it was. “I… didn’t know my parents,” Zack offered. Cloud’s lips pressed together in sympathy. “Not my real parents,” Zack continued. “I was raised by my foster parents in Gongaga. We were farmers. So when Angeal came for me - told me he and our brothers were fighting to take back our ancestral lands from the Shinran Empire - I had to leave ma and pa. I haven’t seen them since. I like to think that they’re still in Gongaga, tilling the land.”

Cloud nodded with a hum. They were both born of royal blood, thrown into politics, but raised by the lower class. It was not an unfamiliar story for their generation.

“I passed Gongaga on the way here,” said Cloud. “Their section of land where Shinra had salted the earth is still barren, but otherwise the town is still intact. Still surviving.”

 _Surviving_ , was the word had Cloud used. Not ‘thriving’.

After King Sephiroth and his subjects had taken back their lands, Banora’s war with Shinra was no longer raging, and was now at a cold impasse that could flare back up at any moment. The people of the war torn lands had to pick themselves up and rebuild their communities as best they could, but it would take years, probably generations, before coming back to normality.

Glancing at his new husband out of the corner of his eye, Zack knew that Avalanche was not in the same stages. They had a border with Shinra and were constantly accepting new refugees escaping over the mountains every day, and Avalanchian scouts were getting murdered almost daily as Shinra pushed against Avalanche’s acquired borders.

Sephiroth stood from the king’s table, a frown of disgust at how rowdy the knights had gotten twisting his normally cool façade. On his left and right, Tifa and Genesis seemed to wish him goodnight. Angeal had placed himself among the knights some time ago and didn’t notice Sephiroth leave.

Some time after Sephiroth had parted, Tifa banged her tankard on the table and stood, getting most people’s attention. “Time for the alphagroom and omegagroom to go to their room and commence their wedding night!”

The knights and guest all cheered, lifting their tankards into the air and sloshing their ale and wine all over the tables and each other’s heads.

Zack looked at Cloud, whose eyes were steely and on Tifa, a light blush high on his cheekbones.

Angeal, Kunsel, Luxiere, Roche and others, went to Zack, lifted him from his chair and rested him on their strong shoulders and walked him from the room with a chorus of cheers. Tifa and her three knights escorted Cloud to their room, laughing and singing along.

Then Zack and Cloud were dumped in their nuptial bedroom, the door slammed and locked.

Zack stared at the door, listening to the various bolts slide shut. 

Half the room was taken up by a big four poster bed, with a fire in the hearth making the room as warm as to drive the night chill away. There was a table where plates of various salted meats, fruit and pickled vegetables were laid out, while to the side the privy and washbasin was hidden from view by a carved wooden room separator.

Zack was nervous. He pushed his fingers through his hair and exhaled shakily, reigning in his courage as he watched Cloud from the corner of his eye.

Cloud seemed to sense his gaze and looked at him, his eyes big and blue, and the collar of his robes shifting away from his pale throat and clavicle with the movement. Desire ran up Zack’s spine and coalesced in his belly, the anticipation of the night thrumming at his nerves. Zack wanted this.

But then Cloud moved away from him and to the table, and started picking up plates of food and moving them over to the bed, where he laid them down.

“Um…” said Zack, as he observed Cloud striding back and forth from table to bed. “Do you not want to… sleep… in the bed?”

“No time,” Cloud mumbled, as if he spared very little energy on talking. “This is the only night we have to copy the map across.”

Zack tried to parse that statement into something that he could understand. He failed. When all the food was on the bed and the table was clear, Cloud pulled two tightly folded pieces of parchment from his robes and unfolded them carefully but rapidly, then spread them both over the table’s surface with sure hands.

Zack stepped forward. Cloud wasn’t looking at him, too engrossed in the large maps. Zack said, “So we’re not going to…” He gesticulated, unable to convey ‘have sex’ without feeling embarrassed. “…tonight?”

“What’s the point?” said Cloud. “I’m not in heat.”

“The point? Uh…” Zack scratched the back of his head. “You know, to get to know each other.”

“Do you tumble everyone you want to get to know?” Cloud quipped. From an inner pocket he pulled out a dark piece of drawing charcoal and placed it on the table. Zack was momentarily mesmerised by one strand of Cloud’s hair, which was longer than the others, and followed Cloud’s jawline to brush his shoulder. Zack’s fingers twitched to push it aside, to see the smooth curve of Cloud's beardless jaw.

And then it seemed he was doing just that: involuntarily moving forward and running the pads of two fingers over Cloud’s cheek.

“Zack,” said Cloud quietly, his voice deep and gravelly with emotion. His eyes were so blue when they caught Zack’s, and Zack thought about running a hand up Cloud’s thigh, feeling the hot, hard, meat of him.

“Zack,” Cloud called again. He tapped on the parchment. “The maps, Zack.”

Zack blinked out of his lusty haze and gave the two maps a cursory glance, then did a double-take. It was the royal stamp on the corner of one that caught his eye, red and permanent and very familiar.

“Hey...” said Zack, frowning. His voice broke a little when he said, “This is... it belongs to the Banora royal family!”

“Yes,” said Cloud, his tone suggesting he was dragging up patience from inside himself, “I stole it.”

“You – how – “ Zack’s words stuttered and died in his throat. When he found his voice again, he said incredulously, “A map like this would have been held in the locked archives.”

“The lock was easy to break,” Cloud told him. He was incongruously innocuous as he explained to Zack how he _broke into the restricted section_ of the royal library. “Since almost everyone was at the wedding, only one guard was on duty whom Jesse and Wedge easily distracted while I took what I needed.”

Zack stared at him. Cloud _had_ been late to his own wedding, and come to think of it, so had two of his knights. “So you’re…” Zack gestured to the maps.

“Copying the details from your map to mine,” Cloud finished for him. “Avalanche’s map of Midgar is slightly different to Banora’s. For example – “ He tapped an inner section of the Midgar fort that appeared blank on the Avalanche version – “the Banora version has named far more barracks.”

Zack resigned himself to Cloud’s conversational path, and pulled his concentration to the parchments. They were both well scaled maps of the fort of Midgar, with its outer and inner cities, and the Shinra Castle in the centre. Zack examined the section Cloud was pointing at. “Yes,” said Zack, “it’s the barracks for the First Class Knights.”

Cloud’s eyes widened as if Zack had just handed him a pot of gold, and decisively scribbled the information onto the Avalanchian map. “And this?” Cloud pointed to another section.

“Second Classes,” Zack answered. He pointed to a section himself. “Third classes.” Then he tilted his head to the side and pointed to a section on the Avalanchian map. “What is this? And these lines?”

“Waterways,” said Cloud. “We used them during our last raid though, so probably heavily guarded, now.”

Zack was surprised. Cloud’s teeth were lightly pressing into his bottom lip as he concentrated. Zack said, “You’re planning another raid?” He frowned. “Are you… going to war – “

“No,” said Cloud quickly; “only raid. It will be our third and hopefully final. We have no interest in going to war with Shinra for Midgar, only to hold Fort Condor and its surrounding lands.”

“But you’re raiding – “

“For sabotage, and supplies,” Cloud explained. “We cannot save the people from Midgar unless they want saving, else King Rufus will be martyred.”

Zack rocked back on his heels. Cloud was bowed over the table, now, concentrating hard on his work even as he answered Zack’s questions.

Sephiroth and Angeal had implied Avalanche and its forces were nothing more than a great mess, with divided leaders and failed battles, but the opposite was true. It was clear in the way Cloud spoke of ‘we’ that Cloud and Regent Barret were working together with a particular goal in mind, and for their own intents and purposes, their last two raids had actually been successful. Unless Cloud was lying…

There was a question that was pressing in the forefront of Zack’s mind.

“The people of Midgar need to overthrow the Shinran empire,” Cloud continued, “not Avalanche – “

“Why are you telling me this?” Zack cut in. His voice was hard. “I know we’re married, but you can’t honestly say that you trust me so implicitly.”

“I do trust you,” Cloud told him, catching and holding Zack’s gaze with resolve. “Truthfully, I would have taken a risk with the map even if I didn’t as tonight is the only chance I’ll get to copy it, but… of what I’ve spoken of tonight? I trust you with it.”

Zack’s chest clenched under the onslaught of Cloud’s sincerity. He swallowed thickly.

Cloud reached out the short distance and caught Zack’s hand in his. Zack’s heart jumped to his throat and he squeezed Cloud’s hand. Cloud’s grip was warm and sure. He told Zack, “There was a sorceress being kept in a tower in the Shinra castle. We rescued her during our first raid, and she came back to Fort Condor with us.”

Zack stared at him.

Cloud said, “She told me…” He gazed into Zack’s eyes a moment before his eyes slid away in embarrassment. “You… are my destiny.”

That… was unexpected. Zack bent his head and looked at their joined hands. He rubbed his thumb over Cloud’s knuckles.

“She told me that there are multiple timelines,” Cloud continued, and he spoke slowly enough to allow Zack time enough to get his head around the concept, “and that in every timeline, you and I always help each other. She said she can see them all, in her dreams. She said that in some of them, I die for you, and in others, you die for me. But in every one of them, we are friends.”

“Only friends?” Zack quipped. It had meant to be in flirtatious jest, but it came out sorrowful.

There was a barely there uptick at the corner of Cloud’s mouth. “I don’t know. In all honesty, even knowing that you and I are destined, I assumed Sephiroth would marry me, not you.”

Zack’s stomach clenched with jealousy, as if it had been threatened with hot iron. His next words were through gritted teeth: “Would that have been preferable?”

Cloud was frowning. He said, voice low and dark, “Only because I wanted to get close enough to kill him.”

Zack let go of Cloud’s hand and reeled back.

Cloud’s expression was fierce as he persevered with, “The sorceress also told me that Shinra isn’t the real threat.” When Zack stepped back, Cloud stepped towards him. “She said Sephiroth will destroy everything if he isn’t stopped – “

“Maybe your sorceress is a trickster,” Zack cut in. “Maybe she’s lying!”

“She’s not lying,” said Cloud with surety. “And I think you know it.”

The seed of doubt Angeal had planted in Zack’s mind was sprouting with Cloud’s words. But Cloud’s easy talk of assassination of Zack’s brother and king was shaking Zack’s world, and he didn’t want such politics. Zack had only ever wanted peace, and for his people to not starve to death or to freeze in the night.

Zack pulled himself from the emotionally charged conversation by focusing on Cloud’s plagiaristic cartography. “Do you need help with...” He trailed off with a lackadaisical wave in the maps’ direction.

Cloud observed the change of subject with an almost imperceptible relaxation of his shoulders. “Yes,” he said.

So they sat at the table together and combed through the details in the candlelight for hours. When the moon was high, they took a break to snack on some of the food, and around three a.m., when their candles were down to their final notches, Cloud folded the maps carefully away, rid the bed of plates, and slid under the blankets and furs.

Zack crawled in next to him with a groan, back and shoulders stiff and eyes tired and dry from so much studying. Still, the lure of his new husband was too great, and he slid a hand over Cloud’s body even as they settled themselves against the pillows.

“Zack…” Cloud murmured warningly, voice deep with fatigue. His skin was lit golden by the fire, shadows flickering. He still had his robes on, but Zack made do by rubbing his stomach and chest through the fabric. Enamoured, Zack leaned over Cloud and kissed him opened mouthed and wet.

Cloud mumbled another protest into Zack’s mouth, but it was half-hearted, hand on Zack’s shoulder like he meant to push him away and then thought better of it. Eventually he did push Zack away a little, just enough for their mouths to part, and said breathlessly, “Sleep, Zack.”

“Okay,” Zack agreed easily, then said as he leaned down to kiss Cloud again, “but just a little more…”

Zack flicked his tongue over Cloud’s top lip in a tease, then dove back into his mouth, chasing the taste of him and drinking down his soft moans. Zack couldn’t entirely figure Cloud’s taste and smell out, the room dwarfing his scent with burning wood and clean furs; but if Zack could describe Cloud’s taste it would be of warm ice, and quiet thunder.

They did fall asleep, eventually, a couple of hours before dawn, and Zack dreamt of a broadsword bursting with fragrant flowers from the hilt.

*

The curtains being pulled abruptly away from the window and admitting the cutting light of the sun was what woke Zack abruptly. He was further awakened by people piling into the room.

He and Cloud sat up as servants busied themselves with taking away the plates and tending to the fire. Sephiroth had strode in, followed by Regent Tifa.

“I’m sorry,” she was saying hurriedly to Cloud, who was scowling not at her, but Sephiroth, “I tried to argue – “

“Which I have listened to,” said Sephiroth cuttingly as two servants ripped the sheets off the bed and therefore, Cloud and Zack, “but I must insist on our traditions; for with traditions we keep our history.”

“And I believe,” Tifa insisted, as Cloud and Zack got out of bed, “that some traditions can be foregone for modesty – “

“Of which I disagree,” Sephiroth finished. He stepped forward and observed the sheets of the marital bed. He cocked an eyebrow to the most senior servant in the room. “Your verdict?”

“No blood or any other bodily fluid present on the sheets, Your Majesty,” the servant answered with a low bow.

Cloud crossed his arms. “Omegas don’t always bleed when they lose their virginity,” he told Sephiroth with vitriol.

Cloud’s insolence in addressing the king without proper protocol did not go unnoticed: the look Sephiroth gave him could cut through steel. “Something you have only heard,” said Sephiroth, “and not experienced, as the evidence would show.”

Cloud did not answer. Zack expected him to be embarrassed, but he only exuded coldness.

Sephiroth’s shrewd gaze went to Zack. “You did not bed the prince?” Sephiroth enquired of him.

Zack shrugged, feeling small. “I asked, he said no.”

“Then you should have forced him,” Sephiroth told him matter-of-factly, looking away, and Zack’s whole body went tense, all at once. Zack knew that Cloud had wanted to marry Sephiroth to get close enough to kill him, but in that moment, Zack was very, very relieved that fate had given Cloud to himself. Zack forced himself to unclench his own jaw, afraid that he might crack a tooth, his throat and chest constricted and so tight as if to hold his ire back behind the prison of his ribs.

Sephiroth said to the rest of the room, “Leave us.”

Prince Cloud left abruptly, Regent Tifa touching his arm just before they passed through the door. The servants followed after, and then Zack was left alone with Sephiroth, who announced without preamble:

“Regent Tifa has requested that she and her entire party leave for Corel on the morrow, and I have granted her permission. You will go with them.”

Still tense, Zack crossed his arms in a subconsciously defensive stance. “Usually the omega stays with the alpha,” he argued weakly.

“Since you failed to bed your omega,” Sephiroth said, “you have clearly decided you are the _bitch_ – “ he paused long enough the let the word hang in the air between them – “in your marriage. And so you belong to Avalanche.”

Zack exhaled shakily.

“Naturally, I will absorb your order of knights,” the king continued, “and your household servants. The Avalanchians will leave first light, so use today to say farewell to those you hold dear.”

There was a pause then, where Sephiroth watched Zack with eyes half hidden under lowered lashes, but Zack could not discern his thoughts or emotions at all. Did Sephiroth want to say goodbye? Did he want _Zack_ to say goodbye? Was he expecting Zack to react with anger? React with tears? Argue his case? Ask questions?

Then the moment broke, and Sephiroth pivoted on his heel and swept from the room, his long coat trailing behind him.

Zack crossed the room and closed the door, then slammed his fist into it.

“Damn it,” he muttered, the word punctuated with another punch to the wood. “Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Once he had calmed himself, he left the room to go to his own private quarters to dress. He found Angeal pacing at his door, head lifting abruptly to look at Zack with fearful, bloodshot eyes.

“Have you been sleeping?” Zack asked him as he pushed into his room with Angeal on his heels. A servant was in there, tending the fire, but he wasn't one from Zack’s household. From Sephiroth’s, then. Zack frowned.

Angeal said to the servant. “Bring us breakfast. Something warm and fresh.” The servant bowed and left the room. “Hopefully that will keep him occupied a while,” Angeal muttered to Zack as he closed the door. They were alone now. Angeal rubbed his face. At first Zack had assumed that Angeal was tired, but his demeanour also suggested he had been... crying. Zack stared.

“How was last night,” Angeal asked.

“Fine,” Zack told him honestly. “We didn't consummate the marriage, but I think Prince Cloud and I get along okay.” Zack didn’t bother telling him about his own wants; about wanting to slide his hands up Cloud’s bare back, or kiss him at the soft hinge of his jaw. Instead he took a deep breath and said, “The rumours are true.”

Angeal’s head shot up.

Zack clarified, “Avalanche have the sorceress –“

“Don't tell Sephiroth,” said Angeal, “whatever you do.”

“Wasn't going to,” Zack muttered. “My days of talking to him are over.”

“Can she do magic? This sorceress.”

“I don't know,” said Zack.

Angeal nodded. He relaxed his stance. “Having magic puts Avalanche at a great advantage,” Angeal told Zack. Zack knew that. There was folklore that told of crystals that held within them the power of the planet, and allowed the user, even a non-sorcerer, to perform magic. Two such crystals were in the royal vault, Zack knew, but only a sorceress could teach people how to use them to bring about fire, or ice, or other untold things. But as far as anyone knew, there was only one sorceress left alive in the world after a mysterious plague had wiped out her people centuries ago, and she was living in Fort Condor. Angeal said, “It’s perhaps fortunate that you are aligned with them now.”

“’Fortunate’,” Zack murmured. He rubbed his arms and looked around his room, at the bed he would sleep in for only one more night, at the desk he would never use again. “Did I... do something wrong? What action could I have taken to prevent my exile.”

“You're not officially exiled,” Angeal reminded him.

Zack threw him an unimpressed look.

Angeal jaw ticked as he clenched it. “There’s no defining moment that could prevent this,” he said. “You are you, and Sephiroth is who he is.” Angeal glanced at the door, hesitating. “Before the servant comes back,” he hedged, “I must inform you that I have made an appointment for you. Do you know the old church, south of the lower town well?”

Zack stopped his pacing, tensing with curiosity. “I know it.”

“One hour before noon, you are to meet Lord Chadley Rothchild there – “

“ _Chadley?_ ” Zack barked incredulously. “You want me to meet with that boy, what for?”

Angeal took a deep breath. “He seems a boy to us but he is eighteen years old and has completed his apprenticeship. His father Lord Rothchild would have of course been a preferable banker to meet with, but he is Sephiroth’s man. Chadley, on the other hand, is rumoured to be an Avalanche supporter, and has the royal authority to handle your affairs.” Angeal faced Zack fully, face grim. “It is, in retrospect, fortunate that you gave most of your deeds of land and much of your gold to the Rothchilds and not the royal vault, for Sephiroth has locked the vault and you no longer have access – “

Zack’s chest constricted, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

“- but even the king does not have such power over the bank. It will not be a lack of effort on his part, however. You _must_ meet with Chadley and let him help you make purchases with your gold that Sephiroth cannot access, or will not be able to seize with great political effort.”

“I’ll be poor,” Zack whispered. He wondered darkly if Cloud would even want him anymore, knowing that he was now married to a pauper prince.

“Indeed,” said Angeal, “for you cannot take much gold on the road without great risk. But this way, you will at least stay asset rich.”

Zack stared out the window. There was a bird singing a merry song, and he wished its melody would touch his heart, but he only felt cold.

There was a knock on the door and the servant entered with their breakfast. “We will speak no more of this,” Angeal decided as he sat at the breakfast table, Zack following suit. He dismissed the servant and tucked into his breakfast of eggs and dough, realising belatedly how hungry he was.

Zack watched Angeal from the corner of his eye and tried to commit his older brother to memory. Somehow Zack knew that sitting with Angeal, here and now, would be the last time they would ever spend time together.

Halfway through their meal, Zack said, “I need one last favour from you.”

*

When Zack walked into the church, Cissnei straightened, Kunsel turned to him from his conversation with her, Boanna rested her hand on the pommel of her sheathed sword, Luxiere crossed his arms and Sebastian and Essai stopped whispering to each other to pay him their attention.

“Your Highness,” greeted Kunsel gravely. He was standing closest. Zack looked from him to each of them in turn, who were standing amongst the pews in various relaxed stances.

“Seems you all got the message from Angeal,” Zack commented.

“Quite the clandestine meeting, my lord,” Cissnei agreed.

“So what’s this about, sire?” said Luxiere.

Zack cleared his throat and mentally braced himself. He tilted his head down to his chest and wondered where to start, and how much to say, without accidentally giving away classified information or putting any of them at risk.

He lifted his head.

“I’ve asked all of you here today,” Zack started, “because everyone here, in this room, are my most trusted knights. I consider you to be… my friends.”

Boanna shuffled where she stood. Something in Cissnei’s hard gaze softened.

“I’m to leave on the morrow,” Zack continued, “and I am standing here before you, not as your prince, but as your friend, requesting you to come with me. The road will be long, and hard, and we won’t be taking any servants or squires with us. Although you will be recompensed, I won’t be able to pay you your regular salary. I’m afraid I can’t tell you much more without you agreeing to come with me, and so while this is a decision that in normal circumstances I would give you time to consider, I must instead get your answer, here and now.”

Luxiere tilted his head. “And if we refuse to come with you?”

“You will be absorbed into Sephiroth’s order,” Zack told him.

Luxiere blinked at him. Then he said, “I’m sorry, lord, but I will refuse your…” He gesticulated. “Offer. Being a knight in King Sephiroth’s order has long been my dream.”

Zack dropped his chin in a nod of understanding, hiding his disappointment. “As you wish.”

Luxiere patted him on the shoulder as he left the church. “Good luck, lord.”

Boanna stepped forward. She was Zack’s only alpha in this small group of trusted beta knights. “I’m sorry too, lord,” she said, and seemed to really mean it, “but I have a wife and child – “

“Say no more,” Zack said. “You should stay in Nibelheim with them, and I feel bad now for asking.”

“Not at all,” she said with a sad smile, “I feel honoured you even thought of me.”

After she left, Cissnei, Kunsel, Sebastian and Essai all stared at him.

Then Kunsel lifted his chin and announced, “I am with you, lord! To the end.”

“To the end,” Zack agreed, eyes burning. He suppressed his sigh of relief; Kunsel was his most loyal knight, and if he wouldn’t follow Zack, he doubted any of the others would.

Cissnei pulled out her dagger and examined it. Sebastian and Essai were whispering to each other again in the back pews. Then they both stood up abruptly at the exact same time and said in unison, “We are with you, lord!”

Zack grinned at them, then turned to Cissnei.

She looked up from flicking out dirt from under her nails and rolled her eyes at him. “Must you even ask, lord? I have nothing better to do and no one better to follow.”

“That’s the spirit!” said Zack, beaming now. Lord Chadley chose that moment to come through the heavy wooden doors and stroll into the room, pulling a little trailer behind him. He came to a stop in front of Zack and bowed low.

“My king!” he chirruped.

Zack’s brow creased in bemusement. “I’m not a king. Not even close.”

Chadley pulled out a little looking-glass from his pocket and examined Zack with it. “As you say, Your Majesty.” The boy alpha then continued his walk up the aisle, squeezing past Cissnei, then to the dais and the communion table, to which he moved his wares from the trailer. A locked chest, and a large leather wallet of paper, as well as quill and ink and some other bits and pieces, including small leather purses.

Zack went over to the table as well, his four friends following curiously. “As I said before,” Zack told them, “I won’t be able to pay you a salary, so I’m going to purchase land and make you lords, instead.”

Sebastian and Essai gasped. Cissnei cocked an eyebrow at him and Kunsel gripped Zack’s arm in shock, then quickly pulled away.

“A fort,” Cissnei demanded.

“A farm,” said Sebastian and Essai, equally wistful.

Kunsel crossed his arms with his hands jammed under his armpits. “Are you sure you want to do this, lord?”

“I have no choice,” Zack told him lowly; “I have to hide my fortune somewhere.” He shrugged. “May as well give it to my closest friends. So what do you want?”

“A castle,” Kunsel decided, with a slow smile.

Zack gave Chadley his attention. “Doable?”

“Very much so, my lord. I have also taken the liberty to convert much of your gold to silver, as silver is far easier to spend on the road to Fort Condor.”

Zack blinked. “Fort Condor?”

“Is that not where you are headed? Hmmm, my apologies, I only assumed – “

Zack shook his head. “No, you assumed correctly.” 

The collation of affairs went for another hour. They were putting a lot of trust into Chadley, and giving him far more authority than Zack was comfortable with, but it was the best course of action to take given the circumstances.

After they had finished signing the documents and Chadley had given them each a purse full of silver for their journey, he packed his things into his trailer and then asked Zack, “So, what is he like?”

“Who?” Zack turned to see his knights watching him for his answer.

“Prince Cloud, of course!” Chadley chirped. “I hear he is a great hero of the downtrodden.”

“He... is?” said Zack, who had never heard of Cloud until after the final drafting of the treaty.

Kunsel crossed his arms. “Inflated stories better sung by bards in pubs,” he grumbled.

“Pretty though,” Cissnei put in.

Zack rubbed the back of his head, threading his fingers through his dark hair. “I don't know him too well,” he told Chadley, “but he has a keen mind, it seems. A true beauty, sure, but he seems formidable, yet kind, and thoughtful... thinking of the plight of others. And he makes plans for the future, and makes sure everyone in his community is involved, and saved in some way. I suppose... that is how I see His Highness.”

Although lacking in detail, Zack's assessment seemed to make Chadley’s smile widen into a grin. “Just as I had dreamed,” said the banker. “Well, I shall be off. Take care, Prince Zack and friends, and good luck on your journey!”

*

Kunsel walked Zack back to the castle. Zack gazed down at their feet stepping over the old, uneven flagstones. “I’m being forced to leave my home,” Zack told Kunsel quietly.

“With all due respect, my lord, I don't believe Nibelheim was ever really your home.”

Kunsel had a point. The old castle once owned and neglected by the Shinran Empire had character but not the homely warmth of the huts in Gongaga, nor the sweet air.

When they neared the entrance, Zack saw Prince Cloud and Regent Tifa emerge from the stables, reins in their hands as they led their horses out for some fresh air and sun. Neither had seen Zack nor Kunsel yet, and they were conversing with hands on horse rains and noses, Tifa’s smile sunny and unencumbered, Cloud’s barely there yet soft. Zack was fast realising that Cloud did not smile with his mouth, but when he was happy and open like this, he smiled with his eyes.

Cloud glanced over, noticing Zack’s stare for the first time, and his expression shuttered. Zack felt the change and his own jealousy crystallise in his heart.

Kunsel made a small noise. “Do you want to go over there, lord? Converse with your husband?”

Zack wondered if Cloud would ever smile for Zack like he had smiled for Tifa. “No,” Zack decided, tearing his gaze away from Cloud and walking off, Kunsel following, “I have too much to do.”

He felt Cloud’s eyes on him as he walked away.

*

In the library, Genesis pushed an open hardcover book into Zack’s hands.

Zack put a finger in to keep the page, then flipped it to read the title. He raised a brow at Genesis. “Loveless?”

His older brother nodded sagely.

“I won’t lie,” said Zack, “I was kind of hoping for a forest survival skills guide or a chapter on which type of armour to take on a long journey.”

“I’m sure you know enough of both those subjects,” Genesis drawled, “to survive travelling with an Avalanchian royal retinue.” He tapped the book, pages crisp and yellowed with time and the oils from his fingers, much loved.

“Are you gifting your favourite book to me?” said Zack.

“Of course not,” Genesis huffed, put-upon. He explained, “The poems are prophecy.”

Zack stared at him a moment, wondering if he should take Genesis seriously or not. He bent his head down and read the passage –

_My friend, your desire is the gift of the goddess_

_Legend shall speak of sacrifice at worlds end_

-Then snapped the book shut.

Genesis blinked slowly at him, offended.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, or in prophecy,” Zack told Genesis, feeling he should give his brother the benefit of the doubt since he had believed Cloud, someone he barely knew, about _Destiny_ , “but I’m not about to worry about the end of the world when I have so many other things to worry about this day.”

“No doubt,” Genesis said with a smirk, “but I felt that you were… sacrificed, in a quest for more power.”

Zack relaxed, love for this sad, lonely brother flooding his body with warmth. He handed the book back gently. “I’m afraid I will never understand how or why. Farewell, Brother.”

*

Claudia’s disposition had changed into something less harried and more vibrant. Zack could not pinpoint the actual, tangible change in her, but as she bustled around the kitchen, it was obvious she was driven by something good, and not because she _had_ to.

“I’m going to miss you,” Zack told her.

She looked up from where she was rummaging through a sack of potatoes and blinked at him. “Why?” she said.

Tilly stopped chopping carrots and glanced between them.

Zack shifted awkwardly. “I guess you haven’t heard, then. Um, I’ll be leaving tomorrow – “

“Psh!” Claudia dismissed with a wave of her hand over her shoulder. She continued to go through the potatoes in the sack. “I am aware. But we won’t be saying goodbye. Can’t you tell I’m packing all the _good_ stores?”

Zack blinked at her. “I – “

“My two sons are leaving,” Claudia sniffed, “so of course I am going with them.”

Zack’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

Tilly ducked her head to hide her smile. “Yes, ‘oh’,” said Claudia. “Now, I’ve packed the salted pork and salted fish, crisp bread, flour for damper, hard cheese and sausage… oh! Onions, I must pick the best onions – “

Zack backed out of the kitchen, feeling lighter than when he entered. This morning he’d felt cast out, unwanted. But his closest friends were coming with him on his journey, and Nibelheim was just a place… Claudia, Kunsel, Sebastian, Essai, Cissnei… and Cloud, now:

They were home.

They were family.

*

Dawn had barely cracked over the mountains when Zack and Kunsel joined the party outside the city gates the next morning. Cissnei glared at nothing, like she was asleep on her feet, when Zack got there, and Sebastian and Essei were nervously watching Jesse, Biggs and Wedge secure their bags to their horses.

Zack’s knights and Cloud’s retinue travelling together.

This would be interesting.

The only person Cloud’s and Zack’s groups had in common was Claudia. Zack saw Cloud and Tifa eye Zack’s entourage warily. He stepped forward. “Shall I… introduce everyone?” Zack asked Cloud.

It was Tifa who answered. “Introductions were already made,” she told him. She turned to Kunsel. “Sir Kunsel?”

Kunsel bowed a little. “Yes, m’lady.”

“A pleasure.” In one swift movement she mounted her horse. “If we are all assembled, we should make haste.”

Cloud hadn’t mounted his horse yet, choosing instead to stare at Zack. As if in shyness, he looked away and grabbed the reins. “Good morning,” he mumbled, and Zack thought for a second that he was saying it to his horse.

Zack felt the corners of his own mouth tug into a smile. “Good morning,” he practically purred back, his eyes for no one and nothing but Cloud in that moment, at the mess of his blonde hair in the dim light, of the way his riding leathers were tight over his shoulders and the curve of this arse. His trousers were the type to be adjusted with laces, and Zack imagined himself untying them slowly, like unwrapping a gift, loosening the string on Cloud’s thighs, kneeling before him and pulling his heavy boots from his feet. He’d kiss his ankle, rub his ankle with his fingers –

Cloud looked over his shoulder at Zack, eyes blue and gaze hot, then looked away again to pull himself up onto his horse.

Zack grasped the reins of his own horse to do the same, ignoring his own erection, something he had gained by only _looking_ at his husband.

 _I’m in so much trouble,_ Zack thought, with a thrill.

*

Their horses struggled with their burdens over the steep climb of the mountain. Thankfully, the earth on the road they were traversing was compacted from regular trade route, until they took a path different to one Zack expected them to. He trotted his horse up to Cloud’s and enquired, “I can’t help notice we’ve gone off course a bit…?”

“Yes,” Cloud confirmed. “There’s a grotto hidden between two Nibel mountains that contain an abundance of the flower _agnorria_ , a sample of which I need to take back to Fort Condor. Also Mum wants to top up her store of herbs there. It may be out of the way, but it is the perfect place.” He added, as if to appease Zack more, “There’s a pond there the horses will like.”

“Oh well, in that case…” Zack quipped.

Cloud shot him a look. There was humour in his eyes.

Tifa cut in with, “The only problem is we’ll get there after sunset, so we’ll have to make camp in the dark.”

“We’ll make do,” Zack told her. He and his knights had practiced putting up tents in the dark during training.

Cloud’s description of _perfect place_ was apt: the clearing near the grotto was beautiful in twilight. The temperature seemed to drop there, and the air was fresh and crisp. The grass was emerald green and the water in the small pond clear as crystal. Birds chirped and flittered above their heads, and amongst the ancient tree trunks grew the fragrant agnorria flower, yellow and slim, the shape of a dessert wine glass.

Zack and Cloud had a small tent for just the two of them. Zack crawled in after Cloud, exhausted from the day of travel. He slipped under the furs and groaned, stretching.

In the dark, Cloud lay stiffly beside him.

That would not do.

Zack rolled onto his side and slipped a hand underneath the furs, seeking Cloud’s skin. His hand found its prize as it went under his shirt to feel the soft heat of him.

Cloud turned to face him, but his expression was inscrutable in the darkness. Their breaths quickened.

As Zack leaned up on his elbow so he could hover over Cloud, he promised, “If you don’t want something, tell me to stop, and I will.”

“Alright,” said Cloud, and his jaw went slack in anticipation of Zack kiss.

Zack kissed Cloud’s top lip first, wanting to feel the philtrum and the upturn. He pressed his teeth gently into his bottom lip next, exploring, playing, tasting. Cloud moaned when Zack swept his tongue into his mouth and his fingers explored Cloud’s chest under his shirt. He experimentally flicked a nipple with his thumb and then felt Cloud tense under him.

Zack pulled away from his mouth. “Okay?”

“More than,” Cloud breathed.

Zack grinned in triumph before kissing him again, enthusiastically this time, and with far less finesse. He moved his body over Cloud’s under the covers, one of his hands running over his chest and abdomen, and then his thigh. Cloud cocked up his knees and spread his legs to bracket Zack’s hips and to invite his body into his embrace, his hands running through Zack’s hair and then over his shoulders as he kissed him back in the dark.

When Zack pushed his hand into Cloud’s pants they gasped into each other’s mouths. Zack stroked him one, twice, before Cloud grabbed Zack’s wrist and pulled his hand out. Zack made a move to get off him, but then Cloud was touching him _there,_ and Zack pushed his hand down the back of Cloud’s pants and grabbed Cloud’s arse and squeezed.

Zack had never met a man as beautiful as Cloud, and the feel of his soft flesh in his grip sent him over the edge, his groans caught deep in his throat like a growl, their mouths smashed together as if to smother their moans.

Cloud pulled his now sticky hand out of Zack’s pants, and Zack blurted, embarrassed, “I’m so sorry. I swear to God I normally last much longer – “

“It’s fine – “ said Cloud quietly.

“ – I’ll make it up to you.” And Zack pushed his hand back down the front of Cloud’s trousers –

But Cloud was flaccid. And sticky.

Zack blinked several times in surprise as he slowly pulled his hand out and wiped it on his own shirt. “You…?” he asked Cloud, “You – ah – already?”

There was an embarrassed pause. Then: “…yeah.”

Zack pressed his face to Cloud’s shoulder and huffed out a laugh, massaging Cloud’s pectoral through the covers. “We make quite the pair,” he commented. “I’m usually much more… you know. But you... make me… uh.”

“Go to sleep, Zack,” Cloud said affectionately, his hand running up Zack’s arm.

*

Zack was awoken by Cloud leaving the tent only what was perhaps an hour or two later. He crept after his husband prince, who had lit a torch to guide his way through the trees.

A fur shawl wrapped around his shoulders, Zack crept through the trees and then hid among them when Cloud stopped at a crop of yellow flowers and embed his torch into the ground, then bent his head and pressed his hands together to pray.

A figure of a beautiful woman with long auburn hair appeared before him. 

“Your royal highness!” she exclaimed in glee. She was surely a ghost or an apparition, but she and her voice seemed as solid as if she were truly standing there in person.

“Hello, my lady,” Cloud said in his usual deep voice made breathless with an unnamed emotion. “Were you waiting long?”

She shook her head. “Not long. You look well. Good news I hope?”

“The courier we sent to Barret will reach you in a couple of days to give details,” said Cloud, “but yes, good news. I am wed to Prince Zack of Banora.”

She bounced on the spot in excitement. “Oh Cloud, I’m so glad! And Sephiroth?”

“Unfortunately, still alive.”

Her mouth made a moue of disappointment, but then she said, “Not to worry; we will have other chances. What matters is that you and Zack are together again.”

 _Again?_ Zack thought. Cloud must have had a similar thought because he said, “What do you mean? Have we been here before?”

“Destiny is at work,” stated the sorceress, before she turned her head and stared right at Zack. “You should come out now. Don’t be shy.”

Self-conscious at being caught, Zack stepped out of the tree line. Cloud looked at him with his eyebrows slightly raised, as if he were surprised he’d been followed, but not particularly unhappy with the fact.

“This is Lady Aerith,” Cloud introduced. “The sorceress I was telling you about.”

“I sometimes dream about the other timelines,” Aerith told them, as Zack approached. “In my dreams, I see Zack lying on a cliff, blood being washed away by the rain, and Cloud screaming in despair at his loss.”

Afraid, Zack stepped up beside Cloud and held his hand for Cloud to take. Aerith seemed to be gazing inwardly, lost in thought. She said, “It’s only one of many dreams, but this one seems so strong.”

“It’s not…” Cloud began, “a premonition?”

“Not at all,” she said, blinking herself into the present. “I know those whom have destinies to fulfil, but I cannot see the future.”

Zack thought about Genesis’s prophecies, and the lines of fate that interwove their lives.

But Aerith had moved on. She said to Cloud, “So, are you headed to Corel next?”

“Yes,” said Cloud.

“That’s good…” She hesitated. “But I… have bad news, I’m afraid.”

Cloud nodded for her to continue.

“Two refugees, a mother and her young son, came to Fort Condor with a disease.”

Zack’s heart clenched, and Cloud’s hand gripped his harder.

“We quarantined them,” Aerith continued, “and with prayer, I was able to cure them, and now they’re okay. But… But Regent Barret is unsure whether to accept more refugees. It clearly came from Midgar.”

“But you can cure them, can’t you?” Zack asked her. “And two isn’t that many. Regent Barret should keep helping people.”

“I have to use magic,” Aerith explained, “and Regent Barret saw how much just those two people drained my energy. He’s afraid that if what we believe to be a plague gets into Fort Condor, then people will die faster than I can cure them, and that I may not… have enough energy.”

“He’s worried for you,” Cloud elaborated for her.

“Yes,” she said.

Zack rubbed a hand over his face, feeling incredibly tired. Aerith was the last of her kind; if she died helping people, the cure would go with her.

“That’s a hard decision for Barret to make,” Cloud murmured.

“Being on the throne means making hard decisions,” Aerith agreed. “But I trust in the Regent to do what’s best.”

Cloud nodded slowly. “This accelerates our plans,” he told her. “If there really is a plague in Midgar, Midgar will fall faster than our previous projections.”

She paused a moment to consider his words. “You are correct,” she said eventually.

Cloud was not the kind of man to show expression with his mouth, but his eyes were, in that moment, full of triumph. He glanced at Zack side-along, as if to reassure himself of Zack’s presence while simultaneously attempting to hide his glee.

Zack felt he needed to say, “What happens to the citizens who are trapped in Midgar? Can we not help them, in some way?”

“What’s important is we save who we can,” Cloud told him. There’s was a finality to his words. “No doubt Barret doesn’t want to risk the people he has already managed to save.”

“He will most likely close the border between Shinran and Avalanchian lands, yes,” said Aerith, eyes lowered.

“I’m thankful he’s on the throne,” Cloud confessed; “if anyone is equipped to make such decisions, it’s Barret. We should go,” he added to Aerith, abruptly closing their conversation. "We shall be in contact again.”

“Yes, lord,” said Aerith with a curtsey and a smile. “I look forward to it. And I am so very glad to meet you too, Prince Zack.”

“And I you,” said Zack, and then she disintegrated into green light, like droplets swept up in a breeze.

*

It was luncheon when the group made it to lower ground, the earth flatter here, and their path shaded by bowed trees. The air was drier than the mountains as they got closer to crossing the border into Corel.

Claudia boiled water as she ground some herbs, then put the water and herbs in a small bowl for Cloud to drink.

Cloud took it from her and blew at its steam, then self-consciously caught Zack’s eye.

“What is that?” said Zack.

“None of your business,” said Cloud.

Claudia elbowed Cloud in the ribs, almost jostling the tea, before leaning over and poking the fire. “You should tell him,” she admonished.

“No,” said Cloud, with consternation. “It's... nothing. I probably don't even need to take it.”

Zack leaned over and sniffed the brew. It smelt of grass and chives. “What is it?”

“Nothing – “

“Moon tea,” Claudia answered almost absentmindedly. She was cooking luncheon now, a stew of vegetables, herbs and rabbit meat fresh from Cissnei and Kunsel’s hunt.

“What's moon tea?” said Zack.

“Doesn't matter – “ Cloud said, voice gone a little high and face pink from embarrassment.

“You should tell him,” Claudia told Cloud, voice gone slow and deep with exasperation. “He's your alpha, and the two of you are sharing a tent; your heat will be triggered while we're travelling, and then what are you going to do, son? Hmm? I'd love some grandchildren but – “

“Mum!” Cloud winced.

“So it's contraception,” said Zack, clues clicking into place like a sword sliding into perfectly fitted sheath. Then he gave Cloud a long, speculative look, his own cheeks starting to heat. “Oh.”

Cloud wouldn't look him in the eye. “I'm not... _expecting_ anything.”

“Expect away,” Zack murmured, watching Cloud heavy-lidded as he drank from his bowl, upending it to get every last drop.

“See?” said Claudia, tapping her ladle on the edge of the pot. “That wasn't so hard, was it.”

Zack dropped the subject to allow Cloud to enjoy his meal with some peace, though his cheeks remained rosy for the duration of the luncheon

While everyone partook in their midday meal, Zack took the time to observe his friends and allies:

Kunsel and Tifa were amicably discussing something as they ate, heads bowed but body language relaxed. Sebastian and Essai were on either side of Jesse, making her laugh and at one point, accidentally snort her stew. Biggs was sitting with Wedge, who was asking Cissnei questions about herself, which she answered in her own quiet, abrupt way. Her body language suggested she was opening up to Wedge, but the friendship would be tentative. Thankfully it seemed Wedge was the kind of knight to have a lot of patience. 

Zack’s chest swelled with pride. His smile must have been big, because it caught Cloud’s attention. He bumped his shoulder with Zack’s. “They’re here for you, you know,” Cloud told him.

Zack, still smiling, shook his head in disagreement.

“The group may seem small now,” Cloud pressed, “but your numbers will grow.”

“ _Our_ numbers,” Zack corrected with an eyebrow cocked in Cloud’s direction. “We are together now, husband.”

Cloud put his bowl aside, his face turned away from Zack’s gaze. “You will be king, not me."

Some irritation crept into Zack’s good mood, like ink dropped into a bowl of clear water. “I’ll never be king,” Zack told him, “which is fine, because I don’t want to be.” Being king meant over-taking his brothers – all three of them.

Cloud turned himself bodily where he sat and looked at Zack with those hard, blue eyes of his. “You will be king,” Cloud intoned, “because I will _make_ you.”

Zack’s brow creased. “Wha – “

Cloud abruptly stood and said to the group at large, “Finish your meals and clean up; we’re leaving.”

They travelled until the trees and foliage grew thin, and the fertile lands became sandy. 

In the evening, in their tent, Zack kissed Cloud soundly, his hands bold in their exploration of Cloud’s skin, fingers walking across his chest, and palms smoothing up his back. Zack desperately wanted Cloud to make as much noise in bed as possible so he could drink in his groans and swallow down his gasps, commit the music to memory, like a never forgotten song.

In the morning the knights sang other songs taken from folklore, sung repeatedly by bards in public houses and evolved into legends. Kunsel, Jesse, Wedge, Biggs, Sebastian, Essai and Zack sang the chorus in almost-perfect synchronicity as they rode their horses across the land:

_Take my hand, she said, take my lover_

_Pray to the priestess in the meadow crossed over_

_Take my life, she said, take my power_

_Beware the king in the frost-bitten tower_

At luncheon, Cloud confessed to Zack with heat staining his cheeks, that his mother and Tifa were to take him to a nearby stream to perform some kind of cleansing omega ritual, and that no one else was allowed to be present.

Zack respected that omegas had their own secrets - their remedies and rituals and monthly cycles a complete mystery to most alphas - but Zack did not like them going off alone, and so Cloud agreed for Jesse to act as their lookout and their protection, so long as the beta kept her distance.

Zack was chatting to Biggs as they rinsed out the cooking pot, their bellies full, when Zack felt an instinctive shadow of unease. With one slow exhale his unease was solidified into tension, and he threw Kunsel a significant look.

Kunsel caught it instantly and slowly and casually picked up his bow and arrow and tapped Cissnei’s shoulder, so that she would do the same. Kunsel and Cissnei took to two different trees and climbed them silently, hiding themselves amongst the leaves. Although silent, there was no way the hidden enemy would not have noticed, and so Zack unsheathed his sword and growled loud enough for Sebastian, Essai, Wedge and of course Biggs, to hear him: “With me!”

Both his and Cloud’s knights sprang into action, grabbing their weapons and falling into rank just as the enemy – fifteen or so men and women masked with strips of dark cloth – sprang from treelines either side of them.

Two were felled immediately by Kunsel and Cissnei, and in their confusion Zack led the assault. Zack cut down the first but the second was meeting sword swing for sword swing; a skilled, well-trained opponent.

But they were not as good as Zack’s knights. Sebastian and Essai were, as was their specialty, in perfect sync, their killer sword work like an intricate dance. The big man Wedge was versing was giving him a lot of trouble: Wedge barely dodged the man’s axe, even with one of Cissnei’s arrows sticking out of the axe-wielder’s leg.

They were greatly outnumbered.

So it was with relief when Tifa burst out of the bushes and smashed her fist in an enemies face, stunning them enough to take the chance to break their knee, then climb upon them and then use the leverage to _jump on their face_ , smashing them to the ground. Zack took a moment to gape as he pulled his sword out of his own opponent’s guts with a wild _schleck_ noise. In the bushes behind Tifa, Zack saw Claudia take aim at someone with her bow. Jesse had joined the fight too, joining in to bring the killing blow to Wedge’s opponent.

And then suddenly Cloud was by Zack’s side, attacking a man who had been about to blindside Zack. Cloud stabbed the enemy over and over again with a dagger, the man’s hands getting stabbed as he tried to press at his own bloodied guts, screaming in agony, blood splattering onto Cloud’s blonde locks. Then Cloud spun the man around and stabbed him in the back several times, before kicking him to the ground.

It was the most amazing sight Zack had ever seen. “I love you,” he blurted.

Cloud blinked blood and sweat out of his eyes, chest heaving as he pulled in his breaths. He gave Zack an incredulous look. “You – pardon?” he said. “Did you… notice they were mostly aiming at you?”

“Zack!” Cissnei called from some metres away, interrupting Zack’s answer. The fight over, she had jumped down from her tree.

Reluctantly breaking eye contact with Cloud, Zack went to Cissnei’s side. She squatted down next to one of the dead bodies and pulled the dark cloth from their face.

Zack frowned down at the person’s face, recognising it. “That’s Yexia,” Zack murmured. He didn’t understand; Yexia was one of Sephiroth’s knights. “Did she become a bandit or something?”

Cissnei peered at Zack like he was a simpleton.

Zack inhaled deeply as he looked around at all his and Cloud’s knights. No one seemed badly hurt except for Wedge who had received an axe to his thigh. Claudia was tending to him “Check the bodies,” Zack commanded of the group. “Their faces.”

They found Boris, Jacob, Farine, Darah and Peyt… then after that, Zack left the recording of names to Kunsel, for Zack’s heart was heavy with the knowledge that Sephiroth had sent his knights to kill him.

*

Thankfully their spooked horses had not wandered so far that they were irretrievable, though it had taken the party the rest of the daylight to find them. The party made camp deep in the forest, tents built on leaf-littered earth between the trunks of trees. Jesse took first watch.

In the night Zack woke to Cloud crawling on top of him, the hot scent of him permeating their air and assaulting Zack’s nostrils. “You’re in heat,” Zack croaked, half asleep yet still amazed, Cloud smelling like _wet sex,_ like he was so, so willing. 

“Yeah,” Cloud whispered, pulling Zack’s sleep pants down his tensing thighs. Zack cock filled with blood, growing hard so fast it was almost painful. His own pants barely pulled down his ass cheeks, Cloud grabbed at Zack’s cock and guided it to his slick hole, then braced himself on Zack’s chest and slowly sat himself down, impaling himself.

Cloud whimpered like he had never felt anything so good, and Zack grabbed his hips and leaned up and kissed him, open-mouthed and slack, hot breath and moans caught in each other’s mouths, Cloud’s body sucking him right in and holding him there, deep and sweet.

Once again, neither of them lasted long, Cloud coming on Zack’s nightshirt with a shout he repressed with a kiss. Zack pulled himself from Cloud’s hole afterwards, come dribbling out.

Zack lovingly covered Cloud with their blankets and furs, and they lay back and panted for a while.

“You know,” Zack started conversationally, “I was hoping our first time would be slow and careful and… romantic.” He’d wanted to make love to Cloud’s body slowly, take his time making Cloud’s breath catch, tear moans from his throat, make his body quiver with need.

“My heat hasn’t broken yet,” Cloud told him; “We can try for slow next. Or – “ He broke off, embarrassed, and when he looked at Zack in the light of a single candle, he said lowly, “Whatever you want.”

Zack’s grin was lopsided and cheeky. “Anything? And you, my lord, what do you want?”

Cloud’s expression turned serious before he rolled on top of Zack again, this time to align their half-hard cocks and stare deep into Zack’s eyes. “Do you really want to know,” Cloud drawled, “what I want?”

“Oh yeah,” Zack purred, running his hands up Cloud’s chest. He loved this strong, capable man over him and above him, promising him dark things with his eyes and voice and body.

“Then I’ll tell you,” Cloud breathed, leaning down onto his forearms, bracing himself over Zack’s head to whisper in his ear. “I want you to take the throne.”

There was complete seriousness in Cloud’s voice – not a hint of humour. Zack’s grin slipped off his face.

“Not the throne of Banora,” Cloud continued, “nor the throne in Fort Condor. I want us to lay waste to Midgar, and then those who live so high will bend their necks and lay their knees low. To you. This is your destiny.”

Cloud pulled back to stare Zack in the eye, expression a little wild. Crazy. Cloud said, “This is what I want. For you to rule all the lands up to the Wutain Sea. And I will be forever by your side – “

Zack said incredulously, “How am I supposed to rule when between us we have only a handful of knights?”

“Loyal knights,” Cloud corrected, “and that is all you need to take Nibelheim, when the time comes. Midgar will destroy itself. Fort Condor we will take legally - since the princess is so young – when the council comes to vote.”

Zack’s fingers flexed against Cloud’s hips as he looked inward, imagining it. To be on the seat of power, commander of most of the world –

Zack had only ever wanted his people live with a roof over their heads, without having to wonder if they would starve during Winter, without having to choose between their children, without having to work so hard their backs were broken. Sephiroth had berated him for having such silly unrealistic dreams, but with Cloud by his side, for the first time in his life he felt that his goal was truly achievable.

He snapped his attention back to Cloud, then snuck his hand under the blankets and smoothed one hand over Cloud’s ass cheek. He pushed a finger into his hungry hole, and moved it around a little to stretch out the rim, to get him ready for his cock again. Cloud’s head dropped down to moan against Zack’s neck, breath hot and wet.

“Okay,” Zack conceded. “I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you what you want.”

“Good,” Cloud breathed, cock hard and leaking. He pulled at Zack’s shoulders to get him to roll on top. Zack took the hint and rolled, before shoving Cloud pants off and away, then lifting Cloud’s legs to get his thighs up and spread.

Zack positioned himself and fucked right into him. Cloud moaned, and arched his back, erect nipples on a raised chest too appetising for Zack not to lean his head down and lick and suck and nibble at gently. The push-pull of his cock moving inside Cloud’s body was so euphoric, the pleasure and heat was spreading to Zack’s tummy and thighs.

Zack was murmuring, _you feel so good_ , and, _just like that_ , whenever Cloud’s body clenched and spasmed around Zack’s dick. Cloud was gasping words too, but he seemed too out of it to get across anything coherent.

Zack made sure to be as deep as he could get when he came inside Cloud, then immediately pulled out to put his head between Cloud’s legs, to feel him in his mouth.

*

Zack had the early morning lookout shift, which suited him just fine. The crisp air helped him clear his head, and the morning sun creeping over the horizon was the perfect metaphor for the start of his new life. He felt awake and reborn, his mind working.

Making plans.

He thought about the seat of his future throne, of hardwood and a raised dais so that he could look upon his subjects. He thought about Cloud coming up behind him and placing strong, sturdy hands on Zack's shoulders to keep him steady, grounded and humble.

He thought about the battles ahead, and the boons that the planet would surely bestow him, and imagined the crackle of magic from Aerith’s hands. The whip of flags and the clash of swords and the thud of shields.

He thought about the children he and Cloud would have, and all they would inherit. The energy they would possess. The peace they would gain.

The dreams they would acquire.

.end

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading. i don't really do social media but if you want to chat i often hang out on the clickity-clack discord server as Rae


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